Top O’ the World

When you pull up the narrow stone driveway, you are greeted by huge red abandoned barn. After a turn to the left is the parking lot, and just after that is where the house was. The house was demolished in 2002. At night, this places is dark and spooky, little noise and little light.

Today, the barn is the only thing still standing. It was resided the 2003, a year after the house was demolished. The barn door is currently padlocked and it’s being used as a storage space for the Metro Parks. Around the back of the barn there is a cement bin like thing. I think it’s used for farming, but I sadly didn’t get a picture of it.

The farm house is a Western Reserve farmhouse, circa 1820-1850. Records indicate that J. Hart owned the property as early as 1874. After that, it’s recorded that Emma L. Martin owned the estate in 1910, from 1942-1967 E. Reginald & Rhea Adam owned the land. The house served as their summer retreat for many years. They donated the house & 162 acres of ravines and hilltop farmland to the Metro Parks in 1967.

The story behind the barn and farm house is that a family who lived in the house was murdered. Who murdered them you ask? Well, there are a two different versions. One version is that the father of this family came home with an ax and killed his wife, daughter and son, then he proceeded to the barn where he slaughtered the horses and hung himself. Another version is that the farmer was thrown from his horse and then he killed the horse, his family, and then hung him self in the barn. People claim to have heard a woman crying from the house at night. Others have seen the shadow of a man walking from the house to the barn carrying an ax. People have also claimed to have seen lights coming from the barn, and heard the sounds of horses. However, no one really knows if this family has ever existed.

There is one story that says that the family was brutally murdered by a satanic cult. Another variation is that the farmer was involved with the satanic cult.

It is also believed that the hill is actually part of a Native American burial mound, which is certainly not surprising in this area. In fact, some believe that the Black Figure is not the ghost of the murderous farmer at all, but that of a Native American wraith who guards the place and chases off others who do not belong there.